RIGA — Latvia’s transport minister walked out of the TV5 studio after insisting on speaking Latvian during a planned interview for a Russian-language news program. The incident immediately created a storm of controversy along Latvia’s well-trod language fault line, which in recent days underwent a sizable quake after Moscow’s mayor suggested that eventually Russian will [...]

RIGA – Many visitors to Jūrmala and several other Latvian beaches over the weekend were surprised to see that the noisy flocks of seagulls had vanished, leaving pigeons to reign over the suntanned masses. Finally on Monday it was reported why: seagulls are turning up dead in large numbers, and no one knows why. Ornithologists [...]

RIGA – Publication of bank account documents that allegedly belong to the son and daughter of Ventpsils Mayor Aivars Lembergs has enlivened the already boisterous pre-election mood in Latvia. The documents, published on the Internet portal www.rokasgramata.com show two very lively personal accounts that have seen millions of dollars pass through them over the period [...]

RIGA — Regardless of your opinion on Latvian politics, you can’t say voters won’t have plenty of choices this parliamentary election. Over 12 candidates will compete for every one of the 100 seats in Latvia’s parliament, while the latest polls suggest that the center-left Harmony Center remains the most popular party in the country. The [...]

RIGA – Aivars Lembergs, the seemingly unstoppable long-time Ventspils mayor, has announced he would not participate in the October election, but analysts don’t doubt the leader of the Greens and Farmers Union will remain active in Latvian politics. “I’ve decided that I won’t be part of the election lists,” Lembergs told reporters Thursday. “This was [...]

RIGA — Police have raided the home and seized the computer of the journalist who was first to report the exploits of the cyber-whistleblower by the moniker “Neo,” raising the stakes in their battle against the Latvian hero. Reports on Wednesday said that police searched the home of LTV journalist Ilze Nagla, whose work on [...]

RIGA — Riga Deputy Mayor Ainars Šlesers has said that a bridge toll might be introduced in the Latvian capital in order to gather finance for construction of a bridge or a tunnel across the Daugava River. Šlesers reportedly informed “Nothing Personal,” the TV3 news channel that he did not rule out phasing in a [...]

RIGA — Latvia’s recession-battered economy continued to contract in the first three months of 2010, though at a slightly less torrid pace in previous quarters, while seasonally-adjusted data shows a slight renewal in growth when compared with the fourth quarter of 2009. The statistics agency announced Monday that gross domestic product (based on a flash [...]

RIGA — Latvia’s oligarchic duo, newly merged and currently on a tour around the country, has suggested that the government should cancel its agreement with international lenders such as the IMF and EU. Andris Šķēle and Ainars Šlesers believe that the three-year €7.5 billion bailout agreement has shackled the government’s possibility to maneuver as it [...]

RIGA — Aivars Lembergs, the unsinkable mayor of Ventspils and leader of the Greens and Farmers Union, has said that he will definitely run in October’s election if he is arrested though he may consider refraining from participating if law enforcement agencies leave him alone. Lembergs told the LNT station on Friday that recent statements [...]